Staff and students have exposed the depth of the crisis in our universities. The time to act is now.
Overload classrooms, course cuts, piling student debt, chronic governance failures. Properly funding Australia’s universities is not only an investment in the students who attend them. It is an investment in the researchers, teachers, communities and industries that depend on them. Choose a postcard and we’ll send it to Minster for Education Jason Clare.
Australian universities have a class size crisis. The NTEU’s class sizes report is one of the most comprehensive studies of university teaching conditions ever conducted in Australia, with more than 4,000 staff contributing.
More than 1,200 jobs are under threat across five universities including UTS, Macquarie, WSU, Wollongong, and CSU. These aren’t just numbers. They’re people’s livelihoods. They’re the lecturers, librarians, IT, professional staff, researchers, and student support staff that are the heart of our universities. We’re calling for stronger protections for workers, democratic oversight of university leadership, and a vision for higher education that puts staff, students and communities first.
NTEU is over 27,000 members standing up for secure jobs, fair pay and a say about how our universities and higher education providers are run.
Australian public universities have made commitments to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employment in their enterprise agreements – but few have met them. Together we can pressure university leaders to honour their commitments and build more representative, culturally appropriate, safe and socially reflective universities.
Stay in touch
Sign up for regular updates about our union and the higher education sector.